Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Lin Yuan said: "Then please tell me."

Lu Wansu said: "We, Da Shengkui, have been trading between Mongolia and the Central Plains since the end of Kangxi. In recent decades, we have also done business with Russia. During the business, we also met many Russian officials. Russia split Mongolia. His wolfish ambitions are well known in Mongolia and Russia."

"But in our Qing Dynasty, there are too few insightful people like you, my lord, so no one thinks that Mongolia is the northern barrier of our Qing Dynasty. Some people even said: Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai Great And barrenness is of no benefit to China, and instead of spending millions of gold to defend it, it is better to sell the land to Britain and Russia. Including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Qinghai, there are no less than 2000 million square miles, and the price per square mile 50 taels, no less than one hundred million."

Lu Wansu said angrily: "The person who said this turned out to be a Juren named Liang Qichao. Juren is a future pillar of our Qing Dynasty, but he said such traitorous words, it is really heartbreaking!"

This passage was indeed said by Liang Qichao. In Lin Yuan’s time, Liang Qichao thought of this method in order to raise funds for the reform. However, many historians did not know about this matter. Lin Yuan was very surprised and thought: “This It's really strange that a businessman can know about this."

Lu Wansu went on to say: "We in the Qing Dynasty regard Mongolia as a shoe, but Russia regards Mongolia as a treasure. People in the Qing Dynasty think that Mongolia is barren and poor, so they despise it very much. As everyone knows, Mongolia is the real cornucopia. Let me talk about the cowhide and sheepskin first: this cowhide and sheepskin is a good product to keep out the cold, and it is the favorite of Westerners. It used to be that I, Da Shengkui, bought and sold cowhide and sheepskin, and received thousands of gold every day! I paid taxes for the Qing Dynasty every year. There are several 10 taels of silver many!"

"There is also wool. Wool can be spun into cloth, which can also earn a lot of money, but the Mongolian herdsmen don't know how to use it, so they let the wool be discarded. Some people say: 'In June, the camel's hair is floating all over the ground, and the spring is full of flowers." It can be seen that the herdsmen don't pay much attention to these wools, if a sage is born and teaches the herdsmen how to weave, he will be able to earn ten thousand gold every day!"

When Lu Wansu said this, his eyes were full of resentment, and he said: "But in recent years, the Russians and the British have come here one after another. If they can trade fairly, that's all. They rely on guns in their hands and money in their pockets. To wantonly lower the price, let me give you an example."

"There is a poem by the people of the Yuan Dynasty, which says: 'White horse, purple camel wine, green mink and ermine clothes', all of which are precious things. This 'ermine clothes' are clothes made of ermine skin, which are very precious. Western ladies love it most. Over the years, tens of millions of ermine skins have been bought and sold. Mongolian herdsmen know that ermine skins are profitable, so they hunt ermines after grazing, and sell them to us for their fur. Our usual purchase price They are all one hundred cents a piece, but after the Russians came, they even arrested our acquisition team on the grounds of spies.”

"The Russians not only arrested our buying team, but also spread the news among the herdsmen that Da Shengkui would no longer buy ermine skins, which made the herdsmen panic, so the Russians took advantage of the opportunity to enter and paid ten cents a piece. The price took away the ermine skin from the herdsmen, there are many things like this every year, and we have nowhere to sue, so we can only smash our teeth and swallow it in our stomachs."

Lin Yuan frowned and asked, "Why don't I know these things?"

Lu Wansu sighed and said, "Shuai Lin, you are the governor of the three eastern provinces, and these things are not under the jurisdiction of the three eastern provinces. How could you know?"

Lin Yuan nodded helplessly. Tired of talking, Lu Wansu turned around to get the tea on the table and took a sip. Lin Yuan said, "Don't worry, I won't give up this precious land of Mongolia to the Russians. Here There are more important things."

Lu Wansu said: "Shuai Lin has a far-sighted vision, and he is much better than those officials in the capital. I don't know what is the more important thing that Shuai Lin said?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "You must have heard of the Yanchi in Mongolia, right?"

Lu Wansu said: "Of course, the salt in Mongolia's salt ponds is of high quality, which cannot be compared with other places."

Lin Yuan said: "That's right, I just want these salts!"

Lu Wansu asked: "I'm just a lowly businessman, I don't know what is so good about this salt?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said: "In the eyes of you laymen, salt is just something used to season food, but in my eyes, they are all military industry, the pillar of national defense! And there are three ways to extract salt, one is seawater, The second is rocks, and the third is the salt lake, among the three, the salt lake is the least expensive, how can I give up such a treasure!"

Lu Wansu praised repeatedly, and Lin Yuan said: "You just said that the person inside is the special envoy of Zhe Bu Zun Danba, so who is this Zhe Bu Zun Danba?"

Lu Wansu said: "Everyone in Mongolia believes in Lamaism. Zhe Buzun Danba is the highest leader of Mongolian Lamaism. His real name is very long, so I won't tell you. He was born in the eighth year of Tongzhi. He is 26 years old this year. When he was 12 years old, he moved from his residence in Simon to Kulun, the residence of Mongolian princes. Kulun is to Mongolia what Beijing is to Qing Dynasty.”

"Just after he came to Kulun, the Russian consul in Kulun approached him in every possible way, giving him European-style toys and dozens of exotic animals to win him over. When he grew up, he even dedicated a woman to him with This woman came to monitor him and control him, not only that, but the Russians wantonly provoked the relationship between the Han and Mongolian people, repeatedly declaring that the Han people would destroy Mongolia, and even sent people to oppress the herdsmen, and then blamed the Han people.”

Lu Wansu went on to say: "Shuai Lin, after you regained the Northeast and recovered Hailanpao, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok together, the Russians' ambition to invade Mongolia became even more rampant. It is to place Mongolia in its own sphere of influence, and behind this is Mongolia's huge gold and silver income, Lin Shuai, you must find a way to keep Mongolia!"

Speaking of this, Lu Wansu knelt down again and said, "My lord, the Mongolian herdsmen at this time are ruled by princes and nobles, and they have to pay a large amount of cattle and sheep to the princes and nobles every year, and the princes and nobles can kill the herdsmen at will. Second, if Lin Shuai sends a benevolent and righteous army to march into Mongolia and eradicate the unjust princes, then the millions of Mongolian herdsmen will all eat pots of milk to welcome the king's army!"

Lin Yuan smiled and said: "Of course, under the wings of the Russians, the Mongolian people will not be happy. The Mongolian people are part of our Chinese nation. We will definitely not let the Russians succeed in their attempts. Zhebu Zundamba's special envoy is here this time, do you know anything else?"

Lu Wansu shook his head and said, "That's all I know, and I don't know anything else."

Lin Yuan said: "Well, if you have any news in the future, you will send someone to the Kanto Newspaper Office in Beijing, and I will know after it is delivered there."

Lu Wansu nodded again and again, Lin Yuan and Shen Wanqing came out from him and returned to the post house, just in time to see the apologetic Ilya, Ilya said: "I'm really sorry, it was our people who made a mistake. It's not you who are being received."

Although Lin Yuan was released as a dove, he was very happy to learn about Russia's ambition to split Mongolia. At this time, Ilya apologized and said, "Our Majesty the Tsar doesn't want to see you, so we agreed The meeting may be cancelled."